Apparatus for making strip material



April 23, 1935. C. w. LEGUILLON APPARATUS FOR MAKING STRIP MATERIAL 3'Sheets-Sheet v1 Filed March 14, 1932 MANI April 23, 1935. c. w.LEGUILLON 1,998,814

' APPARATUS FOR MAKLNG STRIP MATERIAL Filed March 14, 1932 3SheetAS-Sheet 2 u f2 if f5 i? April 23, 1935. c. w. I EGUILLON APPARATUSFOR MAKING STRIP MATERIAL Filed March 14, 1952 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 PatentedApr. 23, 1935 TES Unirse APPARATUS FOR MAKING STRIP MATERIAL Charles W.Leguillon, Akron, Ohio, assigner to The B. F. Goodrich Company, NewYork, N. Y.. a corporation of New York f Application March 14, 1932,Serial No. 598,606

2 Claims.

This invention relates to a `method andvapparatus forvmaking stripmaterial and is especially adapted to the vulcanizing oi strip materialand the cutting of the vulcanized material to length.

The invention is particularly useful 1n the manufacture of channelstrips for cushioning the glass of automobiles.

The principal objects of the invention areto provide efiiciency anduniformity in the manufacture of strip material.

Other objects will appear from the following description and theaccompanying drawings.

In the drawings: v

. Fig. 1 is a plan View of the apparatus. f

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same, part of the device being brokenaway and shown in sec- 1on. y l

Fig. 3 is a detail View of the cut-timing mech'- anism, being taken online 3--3 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a. detail sectional view showing the cutting mechanism andtaken on line 4-4 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 5 is a sectional View of the vulcanizing mechanism taken on line5-5 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 6 is a sectional view of the delivery guide and the strips therein,taken on line 6-6 of Fig. 2. Y Y

Fig. '1 is a'detail view of the molding members and guiding members onan enlarged scale.

Fig. 8` is a View similar to Fig. '1, showing a modified form ofapparatus.

Fig. 9 is a cross section on line 9-9 of Fig. 8.

Referring to the drawings, the numeral IU designates a vulcanizingchamber which is completely closed except for openings'hereinafterdescribed. A pair of horizontal shafts II, I2 extend laterally throughthe chamber near opposite ends thereof, bearings being provided in theside walls of the chamber for supporting the shafts.V

Shaft I I is provided with sprockets I3, I3 fixed thereto and a similarset of sprockets I4 are attached to shaft l2 in alignment therewith.Each pair of sprockets is surrounded by a chain I5, I5 the reaches ofwhich extend therebetween lengthwise of the chamber.

An electric motor I 6 is provided for driving the chains through a speedreducer I1, a chain I8, and a countershaft I9, which carries a pinion 20which meshes with a gear 2i on shaft II.

Chains I5, I5 are provided with rollers 22 which engage tracks 23, 23supported by the side walls of the chamber. Each chain is provided atspaced intervals with links which support angle bracketsV 24, 24 towhich are fixed mold sections 25, the arrangement being such that theends of successive mold members abut when in a straight reach of thechains. These mold sections are preferably provided with inclinedmeeting surfaces as shown in Fig. 7 and are fixed to the chains only atone extremity. The faces of the mold sections are gr'ooved as at 26 toVprovide strip molding cavities corresponding in shape to the article to-be vulcanized and which, when the mold sections are in a straight reachof the chains form continuous cavities for reception of continuousstrips of material. -The mold sections are preferably made long enoughto span several links of a chain so as to reduce the number ofjoints'therebetween.

An endless band of metal' 21 is supported and driven by a pulley 28mounted on a shaft 29 extending through the cabinet near shaft ll anddriven thereby. Band 21 also surrounds a pulley 30 and is directed inits course by 'idler pulleys 3| and 32 and a series of'closely spacedrollers 33' so that it closes the cavities 26 of mold sectionsv themetal band and for this purpose is connected by a cable 34 to a tensionweight Y35.

A similar metal band 36 is similarly driven and directed in contact withthe-lower reach of the mold sections.` The cavities formed by the band21 and the upper reach of the mold sections are supplied by stripmaterial from supply spools 31, 31, 31, the material passing oversuitable guide rollers 38 and 39 and through a guide-way 4D extendingthrough the walls of the chamber.

The cavities formed by the band 36 and the lower reaches of the'moldsections are similarly supplied from spools 4I, 4I, 4I through aguideway 42.

Disposed along the vulcanizing chamber at one side thereof are conveyorbelts 43 and 44 whose upper reaches are driven toward each other.Conveyor belt 43 is mounted on pulleys 45and 46 and conveyor belt 44 ismounted on pulleys 41 and 48. Pulleys 46 and 41 are driven by bevelgears 49, 50, 5I and 52 from a shaft 53, the arrangement being such thatthe upper reaches of the conveyors travel toward each other. A Vpinion54 fastened on shaft 53 is intermittently driven by a toothed sector 55mounted on a gear 56. Gear 56Y is mounted on the shaft of one of theband driving pulleys and'is driven by a gear 51 mounted on shaft II.

As the vulcanized strips leave the upper reach of the molding chain theyare guided by a guide 58 and directed transverse to conveyor belt 43 asindicated in Fig. l. A knife blade 59 is mounted above the course of thestrips adjacent conlo..i

veyor 43 and is adapted to be propelled downwardly to out lengths fromthe advanced strips. For this purpose the knife 59 is mounted upon amovable piston 60 located in an air cylinder 6| supplied by compressedair or other fluid under pressure through a two way valve 62 from asupply pipe 63. The valve is operated by a solenoid 64 which whenenergized attracts an armature 65 connected to the valve.

Current to supply the solenoid is supplied through wires 66 and 61 fromany source (not shown). A switch 68 has an operating lever 69 located inthe path of a pin 10 on gear 56 and is adapted to close the circuitthrough the solenoid 64 when the pin 10 contacts with the operatinglever 09. As the vulcanized strips leave the lower reach of the moldingchain they are guided through a delivery guide 1| under a cutter 12operated from the same switch 68 and in the same manner as knife 59, theoperation of the two knives being simultaneous. As the several stripsfall on the belts 43 and 44 they are delivered to a container 13.

The vulcanizing chamber may be heated in any desired manner as by steampipes 14, 15, 1S and 11 located along the reaches of the mold chains andsupplied by steam main 18, a return main 19 serving to return thecondensed water.

The operation of the device is as follows:

A plurality of rolls 4| of strip material such as assembled rubber andfabric for forming channel strips is fed from` spools 4| between themold members 25 and the band 36. A similar set of strips are fed betweenthe mold members 25 and the band 21 at the opposite end of the chamber.The mold chains and bands are driven continuously and the chamber heatedto the proper temperature to complete the desired vulcanization in onepassage through the chamber. As the ends of the strips are advanced overthe conveyors 43 and 44 they are simultaneously cut and deposited on theconveyors which are stationary at that time because the sector 55 hasnot engaged the pinion 54 (see Fig. 3). As the pin 10 reaches the dottedline position in Fig. 3 and closes the switch 68 operating the cutters,the sector 55 engages the pinion 54 and advances conveyors 43 and 44 asuiiicient distance to present unoccupied portions oi the conveyors tothe cutters, whereupon the sector 55 leaves the pinion 54 and theconveyors dwell until the proper length of strips of vulcanized materialhave advanced past the cutters. The strips deposited on the conveyorsare delivered to the delivery receptacle 13 by successive movements ofthe conveyors.

'Ihe modied form of apparatus shown in Figs. 8 and 9 is similar to thatheretofore described but is adapted to vuloanize stripsformed on bothsides. In this form of apparatus the endless metal band is replaced byan additional molding chain carrying mold sections similar to thosepreviously described. The numerals |00, designate sprockets adapted todrive the molding chains |02, |03 which carry the mold plates |04, |05.The mold plates are grooved to dene cavities |06 therebetween. Guides|01 and |08 are provided to hold the molds in alignment duringvulcanization. The strip material is represented by the numeral |09 asbeing delivered from a apparatus comprising a chain conveyor composed ofarticulated links, a plurality of mold sections carried thereby eachattached to said conveyor at one end only and of such length as to spana plurality of said links, said sections being adapted to abut eachother in a straight reach of the conveyor, a belt cooperating with saidmold sections to define a continuous strip molding cavity, and meanslocated along a straight reach of the conveyor to guide said sectionsand said belt in molding relation.

CHARLES W. LEGUILLON.

